Manhunt was all over the Internet this month due to our very controversial Manhunt Mobile billboards in Los Angeles. Look above for the picture we used in the campaign. Think of the children, some bloggers wailed! Uh, you’re only singling out billboards with gay content so we’re actually thinking of the homophobia, lady.
The photograph was taken by noted Spanish photog JP Santamaria (here’s his Facebook page). We were thrilled that he agreed to a sitdown with one of our Spanish reps to answer questions about the billboard controversy, his work, and what it’s like to make smokingly hot men look even hotter.
[Ed. note – The picture above was edited to only show the models from the waist up on Manhunt’s billboard. See below.]
To read our interview with JP (and for more of his art), Follow the JUMP:
[Ed. note – The following is translated from Spanish to English.]
Let’s talk about the billboard controversy. How have you dealt with it?
I am completely shocked. I did not expect this very conservative and intolerant behavior from people in the US, much less in LA. The idea that we have of America in Spain is of a very advanced country, but obviously we were mistaken.
The fight for LGBT rights continues to be more necessary than ever. We are advancing slowly, but it is clear that we are still not equal.
The funniest part is that those who have created controversy around this are supposedly liberals. I have read and heard their claim to be “gay-friendly”, yet they do not want to explain to their children that two men can kiss, love, and meet each other through the internet… that is very hypocritical.
It seems that you really like to shock with your work? So you didn’t think you were going to be shocking people with this picture?
[laughs] I love shocking people and I also love pictures with subliminal messages that make the spectator think, but in this case it concerns a picture that is very tame. It’s two men about to kiss, nothing more. I do not see any sexual connotation in the picture. It could be sex, but it could also be love. In any case, I do not see anything offensive or dirty like I have been reading.
That’s not what the parents in LA seem to think…
Using children as an excuse for our fears and prejudices is a pretty sad and out of place thing. Children aren’t scandalized; the ones that are scandalized are the parents. A child is not shocked to see two men kissing. They are simply curious, like they are curious about where babies come from.
If a parent does not know how to explain to his child that there are men that love each other as much as they love their father and mother, then they do not know how to educate their children. Therefore the problem is theirs.
Is it easy for you to work and be openly gay in your industry in Spain?
I promised myself I would never hide again. I owe this to all the people who have worked for my rights, and I hope to return the favor with time. In a world ruled by fashionistas, where 3 quarters of them are gay, it still baffles me to see how we still throw stones at our own roof.
I’m tired of hearing “this picture is too gay”. This comes across as very negative. If I all I did was shoot pictures for porn and full frontal nudes, I could see how that would be a problem for someone who wanted something very commercial or conventional. But when I see a picture of a girl in a brightly-lit background and people say “That’s very gay,” I just ask “Could you explain it to me please?”
I don’t get the false moralism, this habit of thinking for other people and deciding what is good and what is bad. Fashion and photography are a form of art, and art is asexual. We only seek beauty.
Truth is, you are an artist that is easily recognized for your unconventional style of combining color, eroticism, provocation, fantasy and aesthetic elegance. I’ve read that, for you, “everything is possible”.
For me, the restrictions between photographs and paintings do not exist. You have to be careful because the end result must be real and not plastic. For me, photography is like a blank canvas. I always carefully prepare each session so everything stays true to the original concept in my head.Bbut afterwards it is my techniques as a graphic designer that does the rest. Everything is possible. I do my best to let my imagination run free. The real challenge is making the surreal real in the most natural way possible. If you can fool your audience, then you have won.
Tell us a little about your new projects.
Right now I am in the process of finishing the 2012 MANHUNT Calendar. I worked with some models and some spectacular scenery. I’m hoping it will soon come to light.
This year there will be some changes, since we have made some videos that are coming together really, really well. I’m also immersed in my project of male portraits – “Wild Boys”. You’ll be seeing some new portraits of some incredible guys.
JP’s site
JP’s Official Facebook Fan Page
Saw the one in Chelsea! Made me smileee
It is a bit controversial but very relevant imagery. I don’t find it lewd. But it isa fact of life. The gay population is real and we are not invisible! Kudos!
What Juan Pablo said is nothing new, but the whole truth. There’s a misconception that America is a place of too much freedom and open minds. In South America there are still people who think Americans are perverted because they are too liberal and that they are a bad influence to the youth in these countries. Why don’t you guys search the article about the NJ based journalist who tried to adopt two kids from Colombia and got rejected for being openly gay. The kids are now with him, but the case was controversial because a lot of people in Colombia thought the guy just wanted to adopt the kids to corrupt them and turn them gay. Having said all of that, awesome pics by JP.
“Using children as an excuse for our fears and prejudice is a pretty sad and out of place thing.”
Very well put, JP!
two men kissing…OK. two men in underwear…OK. two men in underwear kissing…aren’t we kind of pushing the limits of decency here? I mean, come on…the boners are kind of obvious…even if they are covered.
Why are you shocked this wasn’t well-received in LA? Didn’t they shoot down Prop 8?
Sexy pics in any case …
I think the real issue is that it’s an ad for a hookup site. If you read the article linked, the woman they interviewed’s main problem was that her 9 year old son asked about the billboard. Seriously, try explaining casual sex to a kid. If that same picture had been used to sell underwear like the ad it was compared to, it wouldn’t have caused nearly the same amount of controversy.
While I find the picture very hot and would gladly argue that the general public should STFU about such pictures since half-naked Victoria Secret models are all over the TV, I have to admit that it does absolutely nothing to advance our fight for marriage equality.
Anti-gay opponents that see it will be able to use it to “prove” that all we are interested in is casual sex because that is what the billboard is “selling”; hot gay sex (don’t try kidding yourself either, that’s exactly what the ad is all about)…not a lasting, loving union between two men. So enjoy it all you want but don’t bitch when they throw it back in our faces.
When fighting a war, you have to make sacrifices. You can’t expect concessions from conservatives if you keep throwing your promiscuity in their faces. You’re simply proving their point for them; that we are nothing more than sexual deviants looking for the next hook-up (hey, I love a great one-night-stand as the next guy but I don’t need to advertise that fact).
But then again, maybe you don’t care if we gain the right to marry. I know plenty of gay men who could care less if we ever get that right.
Still, they are great photos.
As much as I love that photo, I don’t think it belongs on a billboard. I wouldn’t think a billboard of a man and woman in skimpy underwear looking like they’re about to have sex was appropriate either. I have to agree with Ronen that this will just give people another reason to say what many already think….that all we’re interested in is sex.
Loved the interview and the pics, bring on the men!! 🙂
I believe there are far worst pictures that could have been put on a billboard. I see nothing wrong with this. Yes they are half naked but be happy that they are not in a more sexual pose. This picture could be the scene in many a gay household whether they are kissing goodnight or goodmorning. Come on people there is just too much fighting going on about this subject.
Hello from Australia. We have billboards here featuring overly made-up, semi undressed woman, pouting, sticking out their butts and covering their tits with a hand. This is to advertise table dancing clubs. try explaining to a 9 year old that straight men go to clubs where they stick money in the g-string of some woman and then they get a booty dance or maybe a quickie handjob.
The complaints about the Manhunt billboard are just thinly veiled Homophobia. Shove it in their face i say…
we have to put up with overt heterosexuality daily.
I’d puke if I see almost-naked people kissing on a billboard. I don’t care if they’re men or women. Children don’t need to see the outlines of your junk. I don’t need to see the outlines of your junk. Or your inner thighs. Or whatever inappropriate things you’re blowing up and slapping on a board in public.
While I’m aware this kind of thing is sort of common, I’m still against it. Popularity doesn’t justify anything.
AMEN
The pics are beautifully done, great models too…..but I can understand the negative reaction. Unfortunately we live in a narrow minded world.
lady, think of the children that’ll be turned on and realize it’s ok! haha
We’re on a hookup site, talking about how we’ll never get equality if straight people know we hookup.
I’d rather come by equality honestly than lie just to satisfy the hypocrites (hetero and otherwise) out there. God knows straight people can be sluts too; maybe they’ll take our example and start admitting to it.
Also, it’s LA, they’ve been putting D&G billboards over sunset that look like the the scene before a gang rape for years. It’s hard to believe the objection to this is based on its lewdness rather than the sexuality of its subjects. Actual shirtless gay men often kiss in real life, people should be prepared not to faint.
We aren’t in a war. That’s entirely the wrong metaphor for the process of attaining equal civil liberties. It isn’t us against them, go red, go blue. This is a process where some people interpret societal institutions in a way that excludes many people from being able to enjoy that institution at all. Not all gays want marriage for themselves, but we all recognize that everyone should have the right to it. Furthermore it isn’t something that conservative fundamentalist ideologues are going to grant us if we behave really perfectly. Equal civil liberties will be granted to the LGBT community, so long as the minority group keeps being it’s self and spreading awareness, reminding people that we’re here. They may not agree with what we all get up to, but the fact that we’re doing it should make society at large grateful that it is as free as it is. Again this isn’t a war, it’s a series of lessons. Eventually we will all learn to get along….it just might take a while.
I live in LA, it always appeard cropped when I saw it so that you only say the men’s faces in close proximity to one another, I dont think you could see below the shoulders.
…prop 8 actually passed, which was a bad thing. Now it’s been shot down because it is unconstitutional…which is a good thing.
If you’re gay…or just a decent egalitarian minded person, you wanted to see prop 8 shot down like a rabid dog you never much liked before it turned crazy and tried to eat your face.
I know it’s a petty point but I’m sure you meant to say the you know many men who COULD NOT care less instead of men who COULD care less.
The most complained about billboard in Brisbane Australia for 2011 was a Rip n Roll bus shelter poster featuring 2 topless guys hugging – yes hugging…
In advertising and media any criticism, positive or negative is worth it’s weight in gold, people will remember what the advert was for despite their personal feelings.
Let’s get this right guys…these two fellas aren’t 1/2 naked, they are more like 3/4 naked! I say bring them on, I find nothing wrong with two men kissing in any stage of undress. Talk about your double standard! We have been bombarded with photos of scantily clad women, even buck naked ones, for years…what is the big deal? It is only the dirty minded folks who will find these photos dirty anyway. Sex is out there people, I say live it or live with it!
THANX TO EVERYBODY FOR THE COMPLIMENTS!
big hug from Spain and please join me on my facebook fansite:
http://www.facebook.com/jpsantamaria.photodesign
You can’t shove images like this in the public’s face and not expect it to poke a few eyes out. These photos push the boundaries of ‘appropriate displays of affection’ and sexuality. Agreed, they’re images of fundamental a component to any adult relationship. But honestly, how much is to much? This is sensationalism at it’s worst. These photos are sexy, and everything I enjoy looking at, but they are not appropriate for a billboard. Just because people disagree with them, doesn’t mean it’s homophobia. People should feel obligated to explain homosexuality when their child reaches an age that they start to understand complex interpersonal relationships, but you’ll never convince me that nudity has anything to do homosexuality. Here’s the happy medium: Stop pretending like this is a crusading pro-gay public service announcement, and just admit it’s just a pretty damn good advertisement for an adult website.
Hey guys – we added a note to the post. If you check out the pic I just added of the actual billboard, you will see that Manhunt didn’t show anything below the waist on the models. So, let’s restart the discussion with the knowledge that bulges weren’t on display.
You have heard the phrase “too much information”, right? The term “homosexual” already implies we have sex with other men. We don’t need to force them to look at pictures of it.
And besides, honestly, I am much more than a man that has sex with other men. I am not so one-dimensional that my sexual activities are all I have to describe myself as a person.
Seeing two real men on the street kissing is not the same as promoting a hook-up site. At least then a parent could explain to their child that they are two people in love (whether or not it’s true would be irrelevant), but a billboard that advertises homosexual promiscuity is a completely different issue. I personally think those types of ads should be left in gay bars, magazines and other gay-related websites. There is no need for the whole world to see or think about that part of gay men’s lives.
And those straight sluts you refer to aren’t viewed any better by society either. Try aiming a little higher if you are looking for an example to model your life after.
“so long as the minority groups keeps being itself and spreading awareness…”
Not all of us use a hook-up site. Not all of us feel the need to throw our sexual encounters in the face of every single person we meet. Some of us act with a bit more class and self-respect. I am more than who I sleep with and I want society to see that fact about me. I am not interested in their opinion about what goes on in my bedroom, so I choose not to invite them in. A billboard about a gay hook-up site is an open invitation for their ignorant opinions about homosexuality as a whole. It’s not fair or right, but it’s a fact.
But if that is how you want society to see you, then you have every right to make that happen. Just remember that every action has consequences, good or bad. That is a simple fact of life.
Oh, and if we truly want the government to stay out of our personal lives, quit flashing pictures of it on a public billboard. I’m just saying…
thanks. fixed. 😀
Yet you are on manhunt.
We are all more than who we sleep with, however, your behavior, whether you have only ever been with one man in a loving and committed relationship since you first came into your sexual awareness, or whether you’ve dated and been promiscuous, is actually entirely irrelevant to the issue of attaining equal civil liberties. Those who view man on man action negatively don’t care how much or how little of that hot action you’ve had, in their eyes wrong is wrong and that behavior is wrong to them.
We as a community have no obligation to shape ourselves to the repressed ideology of the mainstream. The approach to sexuality that homosexuals tend to embrace is one that is open, honest, and holistic. Can it be taken to excess? Obviously. But for how many, percentage wise, is this truly a problem? The example of our sexual liberation, as a group, is one of the tremendous benefits we provide to society and to the people that support the minority we belong to. Which while as a human being you are of course more than who you are attracted to but your sexual situation, is in fact, all that includes you in this group.
Throwing around terms like slut, and whore is projecting degradation on activity that doesn’t really deserve it. Same sex relationships face a lot of pressure, largely because they aren’t seen as legitimate in the eyes of society at large. It is partially that attitude though more extreme than anything most of us have experienced that shaped the foundation of how our sub culture evolved.
Ultimately though, your moral high horse is a pony.
Yeah, I thought as much, I was thinking that I was pretty sure I hadn’t seen any sausage under a blanket.
Apologies, I just re-read and I see that you never directly used the terms slut or whore. Just piously implied them 😛
My real point is. That there was some discussion and stir over this, I believe that to be a good thing. Though honestly, it wasn’t much of a stir. Some woman blogged And one or two others lodged a complaint. By and large and for most people…it was just another bilboard.
for those who think the problem is not the kiss, but the fact of a hook-up site goes on a normal advertising add. i say come-on! You have the same problem and double moral. And no, that is not sane.
Manhunt has the decence to make a non-sexual advert ( a kiss and a hug is no sex ) with a very clean image and , even that, you are just worry about what stright people are gonna think about it or when they know the hook-up sites exists… There is only a sin on the eyes who look the sin when it doesnt exists…. you are just hiddin your fears behind false excuses: is not a fight for our rights ( all the little visibility steps are a fight ) is not what i want to told to my childs ( do you need to explain the add farther than the kiss?.. what do you explain them when they ask about babies? whole sex act? really? )…
COME ON AND WAKE UP!
well i think its been great publicity one way or another for mh, personally i wouldn’t have minded a shot of malachi marx on his own on the billboard licking his lips or mike fitt on his own doing some good posing. But at least you guys got some attention theres no such thing as bad publicity in this day and age. Sometimes controvesy is a great way to get hits and stir interest so to speak.
Again, what are you talking about? You are on MANHUNT! Are you here for the articles?
If being dishonest is “aiming higher,” I’ll keep my aim right where it is. Life’s too short to spend it worrying about the views of “society.”
I am on Manhunt…in the privacy of my own house. I’m not looking at porn in a public place. I never said I had a problem with porn. I don’t. I have a great collection of porn, but I don’t watch it in public. Big difference.
And I never said you couldn’t let the whole world know your sexual proclivities. I just implied that there are consequences to every action, goor or bad.
As I explained to Dan, I have no issue with porn and enjoy viewing it…in the privacy of my own house, not in public.
But you are deluding yourself if you think that showing zero tolerance or respect for the concerns/beliefs of others will ulimately gain you their respect and tolerance, especially when they are the majority that votes for our rights and freedoms.
Life is not fair nor will it ever be.
Sometimes you just have to play “the game” long enough to get the freedoms you desire before you can flaunt your true nature in their face. That’s just the reality of the situation. Or you can sit around and wait for them to evolve. I prefer the pro-active approach myself, even if it is a bit manipulative.
Ronen, i think you are deluding yourself. If you think that you are going to get equal rights and the right to marry by just being a good little gay and not rocking the boat. You are just “playing their game”.
Here in Australia it has recently been announced that the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras committee are going to drop the “Gay and Lesbian” part off their organisation henceforth. Another step back into the dark ages. One more gay group being hetero-fied.
We suffer overt hetero advertising and imagery everyday.
Time to shove it back at them, i say.
Ugh. Your assessment is false. But it’s your opinion. Allowing people to see the full spectrum of the gay experience, which includes this tawdry site, and the more profound cultural contributions made by the gay community at large are all valid and we shouldn’t pretend that some aspects of our varied interactions don’t exist. It’s called…what’s the word…integrity. You know, standing by the decisions you’ve made and the actions you take because you don’t believe they are wrong.
I think that is far more pro-active than any type of subterfuge…because as we all know, closeting things totally works.
I say, kudos to MANHUNT for presenting an envelope that got pushed a bit. As a business they have a right to advertise in a public forum and I support that right (even though i don’t support them by being a paying member of the site) That they should have to follow different rules of advertising because the target market is gay is ridiculous. The image isn’t nearly as salacious as hetero targeted advertising, and this is why this is a valid point of discussion.
Is it fair for the world to believe that all gay men are on grindr, manhunt, or a4a? Maybe not, but it’s more ridiculous if they walk around with no idea that we might be. I’m pretty sure that nothing good comes out of ignorance. Hetero normative culture loves that idea and puts great value on ignorance they just rebrand it as innocence and pretend stupidity is a virtue.
I like to think we embrace a more thoughtful and thoughtprovoking mindset, even in the pursuit of our ‘base’ impulses for commraderie and affection.